by Mark Lingane
“You’ve got a ladies’ handkerchief.”
“It must be from Bindi.” He picked it up and examined it. Then he sniffed it before holding it away from his face. “It’s very perfume-y.”
“Is she your girlfriend?”
Sebastian blushed. “No! Definitely not. She’s a girl. Gross. She kept crying all the time.”
“You won’t always think like that. Trust me; it changes. You’ll suddenly find yourself endlessly thinking about her.”
“That’ll never happen to me.”
She laughed. “I said that once. Then I met Liam. Love changes everything.” She sighed and wrote his name in the sand. Several times. “With his whooshy hair.” Her face looked sad and exhausted in the flickering embers of the fire.
“How long have you been living out here?”
“I don’t know. I don’t follow the calendar. When they give you a finite time to live, you lose interest in watching the days drain away.”
“Huh?”
“If they give you six months to live, you don’t want to know when six months is up.”
“Is that how long you have?”
“The doctor said about a year.”
“Stick with me, and I can halve the time for you,” he replied glumly. He watched a shooting star rocket across the sky. Out here on the open plain, he could spot one every ten minutes. The night sky was enormous, especially to two young people lying in a hole in the desert. The galaxy revealed itself, a white, hazy stripe that ran from one horizon to the other.
“Today’s been the first day in a long time that I’ve felt alive. It’s probably the adrenaline from all the excitement. I don’t know, maybe it’s better to go out fighting than be hidden away in some dark, lonely cave.”
“Have you been living in that cave all this time?”
“Yeah, I guess so. I go out to get food, which usually tires me out. Then I have to sleep for a day or two.”
“What did you do when you were at home?”
She laughed. “Got into trouble. Always fighting over something.”
He yawned and closed his eyes.
She watched him drift off to sleep and then clambered out of the hollow. A few minutes later, she returned with her arms full of scavenged wood and dropped it by the fire. She stared out into the darkness of the surrounding scenery.
Sebastian woke in the morning, eyes bleary and head pounding. He tried to focus on the fire ashes.
“Are you all right? You look pale,” Melanie said. She was in the same position she had been in when he’d fallen asleep, perched on her legs, bringing her line of sight up to the top of the hollow.
He closed his eyes and rested for a moment. Then he sat up abruptly. “My head’s hurting. We need to go.”
Melanie kicked out the fire and ran up out of the hollow.
Sebastian grabbed his pack and followed her. “Look,” he shouted, pointing out to the south.
Two distant, dark objects were circling in the sky, screeching, quiet but chilling.
Melanie gulped. They were a distance away, but the dark beasts were heading straight for them. And approaching on the ground was a dust cloud billowing out behind a cyborg on one of the powered bicycles. The ground beside them exploded, showering them with dirt.
10
“GO!” MELANIE SHOUTED.
She heaved at the vehicle and shouted at Sebastian to help. He put his hands underneath and bent his legs to lift as Oliver had always instructed, and they levered the bicycle up. Melanie fumbled in her pockets, looking for the severed appendage. A closer explosion focused her thoughts. She whipped out the thumb, pressed it against the device, and hit the red button. In one swift movement she grabbed Sebastian and placed him on the back, jumped on the vehicle, stomped and twisted, and was gone just as the next explosion erupted where they had been standing.
She leaned forward over the handlebars, twisting the grip to its maximum, but the pursuing cyborg was catching up. Wrenching the steering to the left, she veered through a deep gully, but as they sank into the shaded ravine the cyborg sprang over them, landing on the far side. The cyborg took aim at them.
Melanie spotted a subsided bank ahead and aimed for it. She hit it at full speed and they soared into the air. The vehicle landed heavily with a sickening sound of metal crunching. She stabilized the vehicle and took off across the desert plain.
“Get to the river, over there.” He pointed to a large creek to their left.
“Why?”
“Sometimes the water stops them.”
The water arced out widely as they sped through the creek. Sebastian glanced back over his shoulder and was dismayed to see the cyborg also charging through the creek.
Not this time, he thought.
A louder, high-pitched scream made them look up. The great flapping beasts had caught up and were gliding on either side of them. One dived and roared down out of the sky, sending a sheet of flame directly in front of them. Melanie veered off to the side and forced the vehicle into a deep, dry creek. The creek bed was mercilessly bumpy, and they desperately clung on to the bucking vehicle.
The beasts circled overhead, but were unable to find an attack angle. Melanie spotted a point where the side of the creek bank had crumbled and formed a gentle slope up to the surface. She steered the vehicle up and twisted the grip as hard as she could. They hit the ramp, sped up and launched into the air, jumping straight over the cyborg riding alongside the ravine.
Melanie laughed in glee as the vehicle crunched down and shot across the plain. An explosion rained dirt and rubble over them, forcing the vehicle sideways and directly into a small group of boulders. Sebastian’s eyes went wide as he helplessly watched the rocks approach at a frightening pace. The front wheel impacted the closest boulder and he smashed into Melanie, feeling his chest crush against her back and the breath knocked out of him. They continued on over the outcrop, scarred black and brown, twisting in the air over the rocks and onto soft sand.
Melanie was up on her feet straightaway as the cyborg roared up on his vehicle. He dismounted and marched toward them. He withdrew a blade from a black container on his back. As he walked, the blade lengthened and fattened out until it resembled a two-handed sword.
Melanie unsheathed her blade. It paled in comparison.
The cyborg brought the blade straight down in a high, wide arc. Melanie was prepared and easily deflected the blow, but winced as the power of it drove her back. She spun and slashed a lightning strike across the cyborg’s arm, as he tried to regain his balance from his initial attack.
The cyborg raised the heavy sword above his head, but before he could bring it down, Melanie stepped into close range and swept a kick around as hard as she could behind the cyborg’s leg, causing him to lose his balance and fall onto one knee. The cyborg was able to keep one hand on the sword as he toppled to the side, but raised his other and aimed at Sebastian.
Melanie brought her blade down on the cyborg’s arm, but it bounced ineffectually off the metal cylinder attached to it. The impact jarred the arm, causing the beam of light to go wide of the diving Sebastian, throwing a stream of sand into the air.
“What the hell is that?” Melanie said.
“A gun of some kind,” Sebastian shouted.
The cyborg reached out, grabbed Melanie by her coat, and reeled her in. She twirled and twisted, but could not escape his powerful clutches. He thrust his arm around her neck and brought up his sword. She shrieked, but just as he was about to drag the sharp blade of his sword across her throat, he paused.
It was all she needed. She thrust her elbow into the cyborg’s chest, stamped on his foot, and managed to gain enough room to twist her blade and sink it into his leg. The cyborg uttered a metallic scream, letting her go, and staggered away. He raised his arm again and fired, but Melanie had brought her knife up, causing the lightgun to fire harmlessly into the sky.
Sebastian got to his feet, rubbing his head, aware that Melanie hadn’t noticed his subtle inter
ference with the cyborg.
The cyborg started to move erratically, compounded by a sudden indecisiveness. He pushed Melanie away and took a moment to check his device.
Melanie maneuvered Sebastian behind her and wheeled around to face the cyborg, which lunged at her. She intercepted his arm with a high kick. She landed a solid blow from her boot into the cyborg’s chest. He staggered backward. She brought her knife down on his forearm and then stabbed into his thigh. He collapsed onto one knee. His device beeped.
Melanie came in for a finishing blow. She kicked straight up into his chest, but he blocked it with both arms crossed in front and caught her foot. She became oblivious to the shouts coming from Sebastian as she wrestled away from the cyborg. He pushed her back as Sebastian grabbed her and pulled her away.
The cyborg, kneeling on the sand, threw his arms out wide. A burst of intense flame, as fierce as a furnace from one of the great beasts, engulfed the fallen cyborg. He sat there burning in the chill of the early morning until his charred remains fell to the earth. The cyborg started to click. From the black pack on his back, a nest of spider-like creatures erupted. They swarmed over the remains of the body and tore it to pieces, then burrowed into the sand until nothing remained but a black smear on the ground.
“That’s new,” said Sebastian.
“What the hell just happened?” said Melanie.
“I’m guessing they’re leaving no evidence. I’ve seen them do something similar before. But unless you want to join him, I suggest we go, now.”
He pointed to the swirling beasts in the sky, pirouetting in the warm updrafts. As they watched, the creatures dived, commencing another run toward them.
They ran behind the rocks back to the vehicle. It was dented and battered, but the rear wheel still spun erratically. Melanie dashed over and hefted it up. It was the first time she had done it on her own. It jerked forward until she kicked the foot lever into neutral. She yelled at him to catch up.
Sebastian leaped up onto the back and they took off as fast as the machine would go. Its front wheel was badly damaged and the ride became nearly intolerable as it screeched and lurched. The metal quickly wore away and they were making good speed, but Melanie could see the front wheel was well out of alignment and she had to steer the vehicle to the left for it to continue straight.
“What’s that over there?” Sebastian shouted.
Melanie looked over to where he was indicating. “I don’t know, but it looks like shelter.”
She veered the vehicle toward the distant point. There seemed to be an old black track, full of holes and cracks, which led straight to their target. Apart from the occasional holes, it was exceptionally smooth; this made the jarring from the holes more extreme, but allowed them to travel at a greater speed. As they approached, the target grew and glittered and gleamed in the sun.
“What is it?” Sebastian shouted.
“It looks like some kind of city with a big wall around it. A very shiny city. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Melanie twisted the handle grip as far as it would go. The foot lever would click down no further. This was it, maximum speed, and it wasn’t enough to escape. The great flying beasts started crisscrossing over them as they traveled along the black track. One beast would expel a blast of fire, then the other. Melanie swerved desperately between the explosions as they struck the ground. Strands of hair began to work free of her hood, fluttering into her eyes.
The city loomed closer, and it was presenting them with the next problem—how did they get in? They were within several hundred yards when the two great gates at the front of the city began to open.
The beasts swooped in from both sides, both releasing huge bursts of fire, which fused in front of Melanie and Sebastian in a giant incendiary ball of death.
The vehicle burst through the fireball, with various parts of it blazing. Melanie screamed as her own clothes caught on fire. Flames licked at her arms and crept up toward her top. Smoke billowed up around her, flooding into Sebastian’s eyes and making them stream. The front wheel finally buckled from the heat and pressure, driving the vehicle into the sand, and pitching them forward.
Sand sprayed everywhere as they rolled end over end until they came to a stop, the dying flames on Melanie’s clothes finally extinguished. She lay still, face down in the sand. Sebastian was thrown wide, but was given a clear view of the foreboding gates and the approaching creatures: trapped in between.
The city was dominated by two imposing, tall towers set back on either side of the gate. On the tops of the towers were identical cylinders, each containing a wide dish cupped within a larger dish. A long spike containing a sphere on its end stood out from the center. They currently faced down, but as Sebastian watched, the great cannons swung around slowly and upwards to face the beasts.
Lightning gathered in the hollow of the dishes, crackling and collecting like water down a drain. It arced around the long spikes, gaining in intensity and frequency. The lightning suddenly disappeared to be replaced by an invisible boom that sucked in the sound.
To Sebastian, an enormous ring like the ghost of smoke rolled out and wrapped itself around the closest beast, stunning it, injuring it. The second tower missed its target as the beast evaded the wave. It fell at such a rate that it didn’t have time to pull up and crashed into the ground. It thrashed on its back, unable to right itself.
Sebastian ran over to where Melanie was lying on the ground. She was moving, but she didn’t look well. He slipped his hand under her arm and urged her up. The fallen beast had managed to roll onto its side and was forcing itself toward them, accompanied by tearing and crunching metal. It exhaled a fireball, but missed due to the awkward angle. It kept thrashing until the underside of its body was on the ground. Its head whipped around wildly, searching for them, until it suddenly froze as it located their huddled shapes.
Sebastian dragged Melanie to her feet, and they both ran, often stumbling, toward the gates. The sound of metal being tortured behind them spurred them on, fear gripping every part of their bodies. A fireball exploded to their right, narrowly missing them.
Sebastian hazarded a glance over his shoulder. The beast rose up on its twisted body, its precise movements targeting them directly, tracking them. The pain in his head was beating him down, but he had to ignore it as best he could, urging Melanie on faster. He heard the clicks; he heard the ignition. He swore he could feel the heat.
In front of them, the gates were beginning to close. A big, robust man stepped out and signaled for them to come. He ran out the few yards, grabbed them and pushed them through the narrowing opening as the fire rolled over them. The gates slammed shut with a resounding thud as the remnants of the fire evaporated into the air.
11
A CROWD GATHERED around them. Exhausted, Melanie fainted. Sebastian thought it overly dramatic. The man who had pulled them through the gates scooped her up and whisked her into a side alleyway full of small buildings. Sebastian cried out after her, but sagged as fatigue dropped on him. A soldier ran to his aid as he collapsed to his knees. The crowd parted as the owner of a booming voice pushed through. The last of the surrounding spectators moved aside to reveal a tall, broad-shouldered man with long blond hair swept back over his head and to his shoulders, dressed in a neatly pressed uniform. He pointed at Sebastian.
“You, son, what’s your name?”
Sebastian answered him.
He paused, staring at the boy. “This is unexpected.”
Sebastian gave him a look of confusion. He didn’t think he was in trouble. The man’s face showed no emotion. A shadow flicked over them as the great beast soared above the city. Sebastian glanced up, clutching at his head.
“You need to fire at those creatures again,” Sebastian shouted at the man, pointing toward the sky. His hands were shaking and his legs were feeling weak. “They could be preparing to attack.”
“They’ve been weakened and won’t bother us. I’m Nikola Tasman, commander
of the Academy forces, the collected military services, the eastern quadrant, and associated regions and allies. And senior officer on the Pacific seaboard. Welcome to the Steam Academy.” He looked over the collected people. “Where are your parents?”
“My mother, Isabelle, is sick in Toowoomba. I need to get to her.”
He noticed Nikola momentarily tense when he heard the name. He clasped a fine golden chain around his neck.
“Is that where you’re from?”
“No, we live in Talinga. Lived. There isn’t much left of it after the cyborgs came.”
He stood staring at Sebastian for several moments, creating an uncomfortable situation.
“Um, is there another train back?”
“Oliver Stephenson was in Talinga, but he didn’t mention you.”
“You know Mr. Stephenson?”
Nikola stared at Sebastian long enough for him to feel uncomfortable. “The express, when it gets here, will leave the following day, but I wouldn’t advise—”
“Ah. The cyborgs may have destroyed it. A bit. But it was totally not my fault.”
“They destroyed the express? This is disturbing news. You will stay here. It’s far too dangerous if they are attacking into the east. There’s much to arrange. Follow me.”
Nikola turned to walk back into the depths of the fortified city and the milling crowd dispersed.
Sebastian ran to keep up. The city loomed up, slowing him as he took in the ancient buildings of brick and brass. A golden train zipped above him on a single track supported above the buildings. The beast drifted overhead once more, and Sebastian dropped to a knee as the pain stabbed through him.
“Wait,” he cried.
Nikola turned to see the boy on his knees. “Are you all right?”
“I get a pain in my head when the creatures are near. Can’t you fire those big cannons?”
“I’m sorry,” Nikola said, “we only have limited power, and the storage battery units are now empty.”